Without prejudice to relevant legislation , when a statutory auditor carrying out the statutory audit of a public-interest entity suspects or has reasonable grounds to suspect that irregularities, including fraud with regard to the accounts of the audited person, may occur or have occurred, the statutory auditor shall inform the audited person and invite it to investigate the matter and take appropriate measures to deal with such irregularities and to prevent any recurrence of such irregularities in the future.

Where the audited person does not investigate the matter, the statutory auditor shall inform the authorities as designated by the Member States responsible for investigating such irregularities.

The disclosure in good faith to those authorities, by the statutory auditor, of any irregularities referred to in the first subparagraph shall not constitute a breach of any contractual or legal restriction on disclosure of information.

In this Article, "relevant legislation" means -

(a) any rules made under section 340 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 [2000 c. 8.];

(b) the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Communications by Auditors) Regulations 2001 [S.I. 2001/2587.];

(c) the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on Payer) Regulations 2017;